George Broughton Spence, Jr., 81, passed away on September 15th, 2018. The cause of death was leukemia, which had only been diagnosed three weeks before. George, known as GB to his siblings, was born in 1937 on a farm in Lillington, North Carolina. He was the sixth of nine children born to Broughton Spence and Lillie Patterson Spence. GB’s father died when GB was only nine years old. With his older brother James away in the Navy and in college at the University of North Carolina, this left GB as the man of the family, responsible for plowing with a mule and raising tobacco and other crops. GB attended North Carolina State University from 1955 to 1959, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. Upon graduation, he went on active duty with the Marines. While attending The Basic School at Quantico, Virginia, 2nd Lt. Spence met and married Carol Todd Spence of Hampton, Virginia, who was attending Mary Washington College. The young couple moved to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina where Lt. Spence served as an artillery officer in the 10th Marines, 2nd Marine Division.
GB’s first calling was agriculture, and GB and Carol moved to Lusby, Maryland in 1963 when GB was offered a position as a Calvert County Extension Agent, a joint program with the University of Maryland and the United States Department of Agriculture. For thirty years, GB, now called George, served in this capacity working to share the latest scientific methods of agriculture with Calvert County farmers, pausing only to earn a Master’s degree from NC State. In 1969, George bought a small farm in Lower Marlboro, where he and his wife would live for the rest of their lives. They raised one son, George Broughton Spence III. Eventually buying a second farm, George continued to work as the County Agent while also farming about 20 acres of tobacco. Retiring after 30 years with the Cooperative Extension Service, George continued to farm, concentrating on food crops he sold at the Takoma Park Farmers Market and beside the road closer to home. Nowadays, people know him as the man who sold asparagus and blackberries on Route 4 just north of the Calvert County line. He and his wife traveled extensively, visiting about 40 different countries and every state but Alaska.
He was preceded in death just four months ago by his wife, Carol. He is survived by his son, Broughton, his daughter-in-law, Laurie, and his grandchildren George IV, Abigail and Eleanor. He is also survived by his brother Philip, and his sisters Ruth Cain, Betty Stephens, and Judy Strickland.
